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Contents

Synopsis

"How to Murder the Earth"

In the 31st Century, Brainiac 5 leads Superman to the Legion armory. Superman doesn't understand why he is still there, as he helped the Legion defeat Superboy-Prime and the Time Trapper. Brainy explains that the Final Crisis is warping space and time around them, and they need something extreme to fix it. Brainy shows Superman the Miracle Machine, a machine the Controllers gave the Legion years ago. He explains that the device is a refinement of the willpower technology that the Guardians made for the Green Lantern Corps, but taken to the extreme: it turns thought into reality. Recognizing how dangerous it could be, Brainy sealed the device in Inerton. However, Superman will need it to fix the damage of the Crisis. Superman begins to fade, and Brainy says that Superman just has to look.

On the JLA satellite, Tattooed Man looks down at Earth, realizing that he had wasted his powers. Black Canary says that he is now an honorary member of the JLA, and as such is under her authority. Suddenly, space ships carrying Justifiers appear, and Canary tells Ray to leave immediately.

In Bludhaven, the superheroes try to take on Darkseid's mind controlled armies. Supergirl is fighting the possessed Mary Marvel, while Tawky Tawny takes on Kalibak, and seriously injures Tawny. Shazam makes the risky decision to use the last of his magic to turn Dark Mary back into Mary Batson. He grabs her and shouts "SHAZAM". Kalibak notices, but is unconcerned, claiming Darkseid owns the lightning. His distraction allows Tawky Tawny to disembowel Kalibak. The son of Darkseid demands his tigers to help, but they refuse, and bow before Tawny. Billy's plan worked, and Desaad has been suppressed. Mary, in control again, breaks down in tears, saying that she can never say the word again.

At Checkmate Castle, Shilo Norman explains how he is able to resist the Anti-Life Equation, saying that the painted symbol on his face is a letter from the alphabet of the New Gods meaning "freedom from restriction". Mr. Terrific appears to be considering it, but an aide says that the shield has failed and they're preparing to initiate Black Gambit. Elsewhere, Taleb Bin Khalid is giving Renee Montoya the grand tour. He explains that Black Gambit is a back up plan to use abandon Earth and travel to another Earth in the multiverse. They want Montoya to lead the future Global Peace Agency.

On the Satellite, the Justifiers, lead by Green Arrow and Black Lightning, have overwhelmed the League survivors. Canary tries to get through to Arrow as Black Lightning places a helmet on Tattooed Man, but the circuit spares him, surprising the Justifiers. Canary switches off the gravity on the satellite, as something begins to happen.

At Calculator's hanging, Doctor Sivana confides in Lex Luthor that while he hates him, Libra made him watch his daughter become a Justifier, and that was the final straw. Libra comes up from behind, saying he had suspected that Luthor betrayed them to the heroes. However, Sivana reveals that he overrode the mind control technology in the Justifier helmets (Mad Hatter's technology is medieval in Sivana's eyes) and temporarily overrides the Justifiers. Having been allowed to charge his battlesuit for the attack on Bludhaven, and blasts Libra. No body is left behind, and Sivana suspects that Libra is still alive. Luthor doesn't care, saying that Darkseid is waging a war on life, and for everything he's done, Lex Luthor just can't do that.

In Central City, Jay Garrick shows up at Iris Allen's house, reuniting three generations of the Flash. Barry explains that when he left the Speed Force, he left knowing certain things, including how to stop Darkseid. He asks Jay to stay here and protect Iris, but needs Wally to come with him. They're going to lead the Black Racer to Darkseid, and if Barry doesn't make it, Wally must finish it. The two then head off, and Iris wishes her husband and nephew god speed.

The seemingly dead Batman carried by Superman.

In Command-D, Darkseid tells Batman to just come out of the shadows. Batman reveals himself, commenting that Orion did more damage to Darkseid than he realized. Unfortunately, he's dragging the Earth with him, and will destroy it unless stopped. Despite Batman's vow about firearms, this is too great: Batman is going to use a gun to fire the same bullet Darkseid used to kill Orion. Darkseid asks if Batman can outrace the Omega Sanction, but Batman fires anyway. Darkseid fires his Omega Beams, but Batman shoots Darkseid in the shoulder. The beams then hit Batman...

Many things begin to happen at once, which Monitor Nix Uotan is having trouble keeping track of: Outside of Command-D, the Female Furies launch an attack, with the Anti-Life infected Wonder Woman releasing some sort of plague which begins negating the heroes powers. The Green Lantern Corps continues its descent toward Earth, and their rings are running low. Guy and Kyle fear that they won't make it in time, but Hal refuses to abandon Earth. Hawkman and Hawkgirl share their goodbyes, while Alan Scott says that his ring has lost its connection to the Earth. Lois and Jimmy use the signal watch, hoping to summon help. Hourman, one of the infected, tries to get to Liberty Belle. The parallel Earths appear in the sky, and the couple fear that this is the end. Checkmate decides to place Black Gambit into play. With the red skies and the parallel Earths, it appear that there is no hope.

Then, Supergirl and Wonder Woman see something else in the sky—it's Superman. The Man of Steel quickly bashes aside the Female Furies and unleashes a massive blast of heat vision on Command-D. Kara is shocked by her cousin's anger, but Supergirl soon finds an explanation for that anger—the smoking corpse of Batman.

Locations

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Behind the scenes

It was revealed that the Batman killed in this issue was in fact a maddened clone created by Darkseid himself, which turned on its creator in the end. The clone's twisted sense of the original Batman's justice drove it partially mad, causing it to break Bruce Wayne's "no gun" rule and shoot Darkseid, sacrificing itself in the process.

Final Crisis 6 writer Grant Morrison had this to say about Bruce Wayne's supposed death:

We’re not really entertaining the notion that Bruce won’t be back at some time. This isn’t like “Captain America” with the Winter Soldier story and Cap’s really gone. This is an ongoing story, another chapter in the life of Batman..

And I keep on stressing for people not to think of this as death. This is part of the story. There's more cool sh-- to come. It'd be too easy to think of this as the end.—Grant Morrison